Outside
by A Certain Random Guy
Summary: Aincrad was a nightmare not only for those inside it, but also for those that were left out.


The officer left the hospital room, just as he had done everyday, at the same time – six thirty in the morning. In the way to the elevator he greeted, as many times before, the nurses and doctors whose faces had become almost as familiar as those of his coworkers. The short haired brunnete, Okazaki Miya, a lively young woman in her twenties; the dark-skinned foreigner Erica Oliveira, a collected specialist in neuro-medicine that kept tabs on every patient in that floor; the always-smiling doctor Ishida Kotaro that worked along with her; the red-haired Hideyoshi Akira, another nurse and the man directly responsible for the patient whose room he now left.

He entered the elevator silently and pressed the button to the ground floor, only for the closing doors to be stopped as a small hand rose between them. Its owner quickly apologized while entering the small cubicle without pressing any buttons.

The person, a middle schooler with short black hair and grey eyes, carried a sadened look, one the man knew was probably mirrored on his own face. The ride was silent as neither of the ocupants had any entusiasm to talk, and both quickly walked out when the doors opened again, the girl at a much quicker pace – probably on her way to school.

He walked to his Toyota calmly and just as well drove to his workplace, a monotonous process of unparking and parking done in an almost robotical manner.

He entered the office, like he left the hospital, greeting the people that he met everyday. The receptionist Shiba Kaori, who looked tired – as expected for not being a morning person; his coworkers Yamamoto Hatsuya, Kumogawa Miho and Shirai Komoe, a dedicated fifty years old man, a young freshman officer and the division chief, in that order.

He went directly for his table and turned on the computer. Three large monitors lit up and in a matter of seconds he already started the programs he used everyday for his job: surveillance. But not as one would expect, what covered his screens was not the records of the number of cameras that watched the streets, but a collection of sheets and data in numbers that would be greatly confusing for one that didn't know what they meant and even to those that did.

His department was a recently established one, created in November, 2022. Initially, it was created in hopes of somehow hacking into the world Kayaba Akihiko created for himself and his victims, three floors of the office full of the best the government could get to break through. Their numbers slowly dimmed as it became increasingly clear that without an AI even more complex than the Cardinal System – something he had no idea was being developed or not – not even the best of the japanese NEET (and they did contract some) could get inside.

Now, 7th of January 2024, the department was little more than a way for the police to know how things were going inside the cursed world of Aincrad. It was anyone's guess if Kayaba left those back doors purposely or it was due to the expertise of the hackers, but they had a way to "see" almost everything that happened inside (if you count general numbers and some world information as seeing). In most facilities still linked to the SAO-Incident, this watch was done purely by machines that then saved them in logs to be kept, but the officer – Watanabe Daisuke was his name – was one of the few that watched himself as things played out, along with his coworkers, whenever he could. By December 2022 they had acess to basic player information like HP, level and their real identities. Two months later that data expanded to floor location and skill tree. By mid-April 2023 they finally had acess to things like boss stats and player guilds.

With that information, the group of players and guilds that fought "in the frontlines" was quickly picked up and it was that group of exceptional players that were monitored by the team. But to Watanabe, there was a special reason to keep watch over those players.

Arcueid, level 69, a Longsword user member of the guild Knights of the Blood. In the real world a sixteen years old girl by the name of Watanabe Chiho.

Daisuke cursed himself everyday for buying the NerveGear for his daughter, having to watch through a screen (and only through numbers) as she fought her way up inside her prison. When he saw that she had joined the strongest guild in the game about a month after its creation, he had been filled equally by pride and fear for his little girl.

"It's coming the time for the boss fight. A group from KoB was badly hurt yesterday night, probably a scout party." Komoe said, approaching his table, her long black hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a white shirt and brown skirt. "Hatsuya thinks they will try today."

"What do we know about this one? " he asked his superior while turning in her direction. Instead of her, it was the grey haired Hatsuya that answered

"Besides its name, [Six-Armed Metallic Statue Buddah], not much else. What we do know is that, like the 25th, he is a lot more powerful than he should be for this floor. At least now they are probably expecting it." all three nodded at that. It had been nerve-wracking to see that fight. To watch the death count reach the second digit, only to continue to increase as the battle went on was an experience that gave nightmares to all of the then-larger group. Daisuke was praying the whole time, eyes fixed on his daughter's HP count as it reached dangerously low levels.

They were taken out of their musings by ringing of a phone that was soon answered by Miho. After ending the conversation she looked in their direction.

"There's a fire in the neighborhood, the firefighters are already going, they need an officer as quick as possible. "

Rising up, Daisuke volunteered "Give me the address, I'll go"

* * *

_"So, did you like SAO?" Daisuke asked his daughter while drinking some coffe._

_"It's awesome! You have to play it dad, it's unlike any game ever!" Chiho answered while munching a bread. He almost warned her not to do that, but it's not like it would work._

_It didn't the first fifty times._

_"Is it? I might use your character during the weekend. What kind of weapon do you use?"_

_"Guess it"_

_"Hum...dagger?" a shake of head "Rapier?" another one "sword and shield?"_

_"Still wrong" his daughter answered smiling._

_"Okay, I give up..."_

_"...Longsword" she said and that made him stop for a minute. The image didn't seem right in his head at all_

_"Chiho, longswords are almost as long as you are tall. Didn't you say you used your own body as the character model?"_

_"Yep, it's hilarious. I go hunting and everyone stares at the midget with the longsword!"_

_They both laughed together at that one_

* * *

One hour and a lot of paperwork later, Daisuke was finally back. The fire had started because of an electrical problem inside an apartment and the spread through the building. Fortunately there were no casualties or injuries besides a man that inhaled a little too much smoke.

As he entered the office though, everyone was intensely looking at the screens of their computers. Komoe was the first to notice him

"They are fighting right now" she explained and he hurried to his machine.

"How are they faring? " he asked as the screens once again lit up. It was Hatsuya that answered

"Four casualties, Mordred, Izanagi, Lelouch and Snow." he explained "they are using the wall of shields, as usual"

Daisuke's eyes locked on the list of players that had focused on leveling their shield skills as their HP reduced in almost timed intervals, only to be restored right after. In this breathing time– probably after a switch – the boss' HP would reduce slightly.

They watched as the battle went on and the death count reached ten and then twelve. At that moment, the boss was reduced to his last ten percent of life.

And in the blink of an eye the death count reached twenty.

In a single strike the boss had killed the players Ddraig, Yui, Odin, Gilgamesh, Dante, Beelzebub, Cloud and Arcueid.

Daisuke kept looking at the HP count of his daughter, praying, begging that it would go up again.

But it didn't and Daisuke noted clinically that the boss was defeated by the second highest level player, Kirito, just a few seconds later

And then he wept.

* * *

_"Chiho, get over here, I've got a surprise for you" Daisuke called from the living room of the small apartment he shared with his daughter. In his hand, was a square shaped package covered in colorful paper._

_"Comin'! " Chiho shouted back and a few seconds later – the time to pause whatever game she had been playing, probably – the door of her room opened and she walked out, the short dark hair still disheveled from taking her headset out. She hadn't even bothered to take out her uniform._

_"What is that? " she asked as her eyes glued on the obvious present her father had brought._

_" An early birthday present. I know there's still two weeks until the day, but I thought you wouldn't want to wait" he then offered the present to his daughter, who teared the paper apart in seconds._

_Only to stop shocked, silently staring at the Nerve Gear box that was covered by it._

_"B-but I read the were only a thousand keys to the beta! " she said, her eyes darting between the box and Daisuke._

_" And you are one of those thousand lucky players" he said, letting everything sink in._

_Only to be tackled by an overjoyed teenager_

_"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" she quickly said before separating from him. "Can I play it?"_

_After a quick look at the clock, he answered."Dinner is in an hour, don't force me to log you out."_

_His daughter was a blur as she went back to her room._

* * *

"-Watanabe Chiho was a loved young lady. Always smiling and joking, she-" the priest continued his speech, tough Daisuke tuned it out. As tears rolled down his face, he looked up at the cloudy sky wondering why, what had he done to deserve that.

"-she will be always in our hearts, may she rest in peace".

The coffin was lowered, put beside another, much older one.

* * *

**Talk about plot bunnies with this one. I was actually reading a To Aru Majutsu no Index fanfic when this idea came up and two hours later It was written.**

**Regarding the references, they are a mix of lack of inspiration and the fact that it's not that rare to see players name their characters after characters from manga/anime/movies/other games.**

**Until next time**


End file.
